In an interview with Spike (and picked up by VG) the SCEA president remarks that it wasn’t about being first to market, or being the least expensive – but rather about “being the best”.
We think he’s a little bit wrong, but he’s the man who can. “If you can build a better machine and it’s going to come out a little bit later,” he said, “that’s better than rushing something to market that’s going to run out of gas for the long term.”
He said that – ideally – you ship first, have the cheapest console and it’s the best one. But that’s not Sony’s goal – it’s to have the “best machine” and that’s the company’s current focus.
He’s still talking up the PS3 though. “This is the time when the value is the best and it’s my favourite part of the console life-cycle,” he said.
“We tend to have very long peaks and this is when you can just focus on building great games and letting the consumer reap that investment that they made by having great gaming experiences.”
coruscant
I’d rather they pull another PS3 than do what Microsoft did and run out of steam towards the end.
P.S: What happened to the website? We fear change… :o
Sympozium
There’s a face… issss there a fear?
Bilbo_bobbins
Heard it all before. I still wouldn’t be surprised if its out next year. To say that again like the PS3 is all well and good, but look what happened on this gen, do they not learn from their mistakes?
Jaffa-the-Cake
What mistakes? Yes they came to market a year later, due to blu ray diode supply issues, but they’re outselling the Xbox in Europe and Japan. Sales figures for both worldwide are neck and neck and they have a far superior game line up and the better console. To my knowledge they’ve done most things right so I ask you again what mistakes?
bunimomike
I’ll tell you. The crazy launch price that had many fans of Playstation simply waiting (for a long time) until it was affordable. For building a machine that’s been quite tricky to code for when money IS time. Sure, Sony has created a lovely console, but as always, at what cost (no, not the financial cost). ;-)
Awayze
Well, studios should hire developers who know how to develop for the PS3 properly especially big studios like Activision where most of their games are pathetic on PS3 eg Black Ops.
cc_star
Sony’s slice of the pie has massively shrunk.
5th gen
PSOne 102.5m SEGA Saturn 9.5m Nintendo 64 32.9m
PS1 = 71%
6th gen
PS2 154.2m Xbox 24m Gamecube 21.8m
PS2 =77%
7thgen
PS3 63.9m X360 67.9 Wii 95.9m
PS3 = 28%
On what planet is going from around 3/4qtrs of a market (in any industry, ever) to down below a 1/3rd in a few years not making mistakes?
There’s no other way for it, regardless of whether you or I personally like both the PS3 & everything Sony have done… or how awesome you or I think the PS3 & its games are. The negative transformation this gen is almost catastrophic. Especially when it cost billions to even sit at the table.
So much so, that Sony’s principle competitor (Microsoft) doesn’t even care about Sony any more (at a corporate level) & instead is now using their console to focus on the war for the future of TV, Vs Apple & Google’s expected serious move into the living room.
Jaffa-the-Cake
@cc_star
1. Whatever font your using, change it. It’s horrible and your numbers are impossible to read.
2. A market share change like the one your illustrating to prove your point that they’ve made mistakes is ridiculous. There are so other many variables to consider, with the recession in 2008 being the largest contributing factor, that a comparison of one generation to another cannot be accurately done. If you look at the 6th generation in particular you notice how poorly Xbox did compared to ps3. Why? Because it was late to market. Ps2 sold 130.2 million more than it. Now fast forward a generation and an anomaly occurs, the Wii. NO ONE predicted it would do this well, some even laughed, but the rest is history. So sony and ms were fighting for second and this time Xbox had a year and a half advantage over the ps3 in europe, traditionally sonys biggest market, this is huge. So we look at the (sourceless) figures you show and we see only a 4 million gap. The ratio is practically 1:1 compared to xboxs 6:1 loss to ps2. So i’d actually say that given all the mitigating factors, recession, late to market, coding issues, and a higher price point that Sony have done remarkably well to be where they are now and it is MS who havent taken advantage of ps3s difficulty to be 6:1 ahead in sales like Sony managed last generation.
cc_star
1) errm what font, I just enter text in the box & hit submit. o_O
2) The reason I mentioned share and not numbers/volume is to avoid the implications of recession and other factors.
eg. If recession forces people to buy less consoles, the overall market shrinks… but share of that market should remain the same unless you’ve made errrm mistakes.
Jaffa-the-Cake
This font isn’t good for reading text I reckon you should change it. You really think market share would be the same as it is now without the Wii? That’s what has changed it so much.
bunimomike
Agreed with Jaffa about the comments’ font. Not the easiest for reading, that’s for sure.
Sony has definitely made mistakes. They all have. Just that sometimes Sony seem to make some absolute doozies and it causes me to think “wait, have you guys even thought about this?” from time-to-time.
It’s all good and well for Tretton to say “it’s about being the best” but it’s not. It’s about remaining profitable and looking after both your product, your company and your consumer. They all co-exist.
Awayze – When 90% of devs can take to the Xbox 360 relatively easily, it’s really quite mad to say something like “studios should hire developers who know how to develop for the PS3 properly”. There is a certain momentum and gravitas to the world of development. Sony’s approach was not a smart one and they are learning from it. It doesn’t stop it from being a big ol’ mistake on their part, though.
cc_star
But through karaoke, dance-mat & camera-based motion games as well as a variety of other stuff Sony /owned/ casual and as such, actively propelled themselves to 77% share of the market.
The Wii isn’t what changed, what changed was Sony ignoring what made them so popular, until its practically too late to get that segment of the market back, especially as Kinect has made huge in-roads into this market.
Note: This kind of eye off-the-ball way of thinking is a mistake they’re repeating right now. Through the PS3, PSP & later the Vita Sony have a massive head start on second-screen gaming, but have done nothing with it. Now we see Nintendo launching a device based entirely around second-screen & with Smart Glass, Microsoft will be hot on their heels. Then of course there’s Apple who could make a real serious go at second-screen gaming (which is presumably why Ninty & MS are making a big play in this area) & Sony, despite massive advantages will be playing catch-up. Mistakes?
Through Remote Play Sony have had the potential & presumably the patents to stream games for years. There is an air of inevitability that streaming will be the future of gaming, not for a few years obviously, but when you think of game streaming, Sony aren’t even a brand you’d think of. Mistakes?
Sony make great stuff, they attract fans, including me because of this, but this generation from the development to the future they don’t hammer all this greatness home, frustrating for fans like me.
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I have no control over the font, but I’ll make the right people aware of your feedback.
MICKY17
I don’t have an issue with PS4 being the last one out of the gate next gen. Not sure Sony can afford to be nearly 18months behind MS again (in EU at least), but as long as its the best console they can possibly make at a reasonable cost for the consumers, then count me in.
mrfodder
Since Wii U is first and probably cheapest…………………
cam the man
But I don’t think it’ll sell like the Wii.
Jaffa-the-Cake
It can’t sell like the wii. The wiis market were free to experiment with a cheap console but now they all have iphones. ipods and current consoles. Grans wont pick this up. Only the core will. Nintendo have wrongly assumed the world is the same as it was in 2005. It isn’t.
cc_star
WiiU won’t be cheap… Think the console itself could release for around £230 and make money on each unit as well as pay off the development costs, but that tablet controller is gonna be pricey. Ninty may have to put some subsidy to get it off to a good start this Christmas.
fs
Sony lost so many customers to Microsoft in 2005/2007 because of how late the PS3 was, as well as the price of the console. I cannot understand why they’d do the same with PS4. Make no mistake, it’ll be out either before or pretty much on par wth the next XBOX. They cannot afford to lose the customers they managed to claw back since 2009. Microsoft is going to have to either lessen the cost of Live or really revamp what they offer. Etc some freebies or some exclusives. PS is the future if you ask me. I’ve had them both since they were both relesed.
Omac_brother
He has a very valid point and also a sly jab at the competition. The 360 was rushed to market, another 6 months of dev time and they could have prevented the RROD problems (I had 6 of them die on me in a 12 month period before switching to PS3) and MS have admitted thy knew it was a problem.
I’ve had no such issue with my PS3 and I will hold my hand on my heart and say the PS3 is much more my cup of tea that the 360. The exclusives are more to my liking (never been a fan of Gears or Halo really) and a lot of my family life revolves around the 3D blu-ray player and netflix/lovefilm/iplayers.
If Sony want to take their time and make sure the PS4 is as future proofed and stable as the PS3 was, Im quite happy to wait.
Jakster123x
Jack Tretton is one of my favourite people :) I watched this interview yesterday. Geoff also asked Jack about Agent to which Mr Tretton then said that Geoff should ask R* about it seeing as Jack doesn’t represent R*.
I don’t have high hopes for it or The Last Guardian.
parryman
I’m not an early adopter (generally its for fiscal reasons) so am not fused when ps4 launches.
If it comes out at a reasonable price (under £300, with decent launch lineup) I might’ve tempted, but I will most likely wait for a gen2 model, and decent bundles.
Izorpo
it wasn’t just the issue of RROD (I’ve had 4 360’s) but also the disc drive failing and ruining discs- and every time I mentioned RROD on the phone with their technical staff they still denied that would occur and that was as late as 2008-2009.
Sony wasn’t much better though – I know someone who has been through 8 ps3’s and he’s had the ps3 since launch – in the end Sony did rush to catch up with Microsoft with a machine that lost them money every time one sold. A mate was working at Sony at the time and I’ve never known someone who needed that much time to vent about the company hours after he was off. Sony messed up presumably they won’t do that again.
despite long loading and install times, wonky browser, rubber band and bubble gum tack on approach to trophies – the ps3 is by far the machine I like to game on
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
Compare Jack to Reggie.
Jack is an avuncular soul whose knee you’d love to jump on from where great stories would be told.
I’m not getting on Reggie’s knee. In fact, I’m not going anywhere near Reggie’s knees. Ever.
MadJunkBoy
Epic win comment!